JP3094007B2 - Probe and probe card using this probe - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a probe used for measuring various electrical characteristics of a semiconductor integrated circuit such as an LSI chip and a probe card using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional probe cards are roughly classified into a horizontal type called a cantilever type and a vertical type called a vertical type. The former horizontal type probe card is excellent in many respects, but is not suitable for simultaneous multi-chip measurement due to recent high integration of LSI chips and multiplexing of testers. In contrast, a vertical probe card requires more probes (hundreds to thousands).
It is suitable for multi-chip simultaneous measurement because it can be used and the degree of freedom of probe arrangement is high.

[0003] In this conventional vertical probe card, an anisotropic conductive sheet called zebra, for example, is used to connect a probe and a substrate to each other when a connection portion at a rear end of the probe is connected to a conductive pattern formed on the substrate. The probe and the conductive pattern are connected by an anisotropic conductive sheet.

[0004]

However, in a probe card using more probes, that is, a probe card for measuring various electrical characteristics of an LSI chip in which electrode pads are arranged at a narrow pitch, anisotropic The conductive sheet is no longer compatible. For this reason, in a probe card for an LSI chip having a narrow pitch, the connection portion at the rear end of the probe is directly brought into contact with the conductive pattern on the substrate without using an anisotropic conductive sheet.

At this time, the connecting portions of the probes need to be at the same height in consideration of the flatness of the substrate, at least within a tolerance of ± 5 μm. Is practically very difficult to fall within the range of ± 5 μm.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and can be applied to an LSI chip having electrode pads of a narrower pitch, and the height of the connection portion of the probe may be rough. Another object of the present invention is to provide a probe card which can increase the measurement accuracy of the electrical characteristics of an LSI chip to be measured without increasing the manufacturing accuracy of the probe by using the probe. .

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A probe according to the present invention
Is the contact part where the tip contacts the electrode pad of the measuring object.
And the rear end is connected to the conductive part connected to the tester
Probe that is a connection part and is perpendicular to the rear end connection part.
A deformable portion that is deformed when a force is applied is provided.
The contact portion and the connection portion are not on the same perpendicular.

Further , the probe card according to the present invention is
The probe and the conductive part connected to the tester are formed.
And a probe provided below the substrate,
Between the substrate and the probe, which support the probe
, A relay board with a conductive pattern formed inside
Wherein the connection part of the probe is
At the lower contact exposed on the back surface of the plate, the conductive portion
The upper contacts exposed on the surface of the plate are electrically connected to each other,
The deformed portion of the lobe is used when the connecting portion contacts the lower contact.
It is designed to be deformed.

[0009]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a probe according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of a probe card using the probe according to the embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of another probe card using a probe according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a schematic front view of a probe according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[0010] A probe 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Is an LSI whose tip is an object to be measured, as shown in FIG.
Contact portion 11 that contacts electrode pad 711 of chip 710
1 and the back end is connected to a tester (not shown)
A probe serving as a connection unit 121 connected to the unit,
Deformation that deforms when a vertical force is applied to the connection part 121 at the rear end
The contact portion 111 and the connection portion are provided.
121 is not on the same vertical line.

The probe 100 is roughly divided into a vertical portion 110 having a vertical portion including a contact portion 111 and a horizontal portion 120 extending horizontally from the vertical portion 110. Are the connection parts 121.

The probe 100 has a contact portion 111 obtained by sharpening the tip of a tungsten wire having a diameter of 0.05 mm containing, for example, 3% of rhenium by electrolytic polishing or the like.

The rear end of the vertical section 110 is formed as a horizontal U-shaped elastically deforming section 112. The elastically deforming portion 112 is configured such that the contact portion 111 is an LSI chip 710
The electrode pad 711 is deformed when vertically contacted, and a predetermined contact pressure is secured.

On the other hand, a horizontal portion 120 extending horizontally from the elastic deformation portion 112 is provided with a fixed portion 123 continuing from the elastic deformation portion 112 and a horizontal U-shaped deformation extending from the fixed portion 123. It has a portion 122 and a connecting portion 121 extending vertically upward from one end of the deformed portion 122.

Therefore, the contact portion 111 and the connection portion 121 are not provided on the same vertical line.

Next, the probe 10 constructed as described above
The probe card A using 0 will be described with reference to FIG. The probe card A includes a plurality of probes 100, a substrate 200 on which a conductive portion 210 connected to a tester (not shown) is formed, and a probe support portion provided below the substrate 200 and supporting the probes 100. 400, and a relay substrate 300 provided between the substrate 200 and the probe 100 and having a conductive pattern 310 formed therein. The connection part 121 of the probe 100 is provided on the back surface of the relay substrate 300. The conductive portion 210 contacts the exposed lower contact 312 and the upper contact 311 exposed on the surface of the relay board 300 via the anisotropic conductive sheet 500, and the deformed portion 122 of the probe 100 When the connecting portion 121 comes into contact with the lower contact 312 of the 300, it is deformed.

The conductive portion 210 is formed on the substrate 200 from the front surface to the back surface. One end of the conductive part 210 is extended to the end of the substrate 200 and is integrated as a connection connector to be connected to a tester. Also,
The other end of the conductive part 210 is exposed on the back surface of the substrate 200.

On the other hand, the relay board 300 is
Is mounted on the back surface of the substrate through an anisotropic conductive sheet 500. The conductive pattern 310 is formed inside the intermediate substrate 300. This conductive pattern 310
The upper contact 3 is exposed at one end to the surface of the intermediate substrate 300.
11 and the other end is exposed on the back surface of the intermediate substrate 300 to become the lower contact 312.

The upper contact 311 is connected to the substrate 2
The pattern corresponds to the arrangement pattern of the conductive portions 210 exposed on the back surface of the reference numeral 00. That is, when the intermediate substrate 300 is attached to the substrate 200, the upper setting 311 of the intermediate substrate 300 is connected to the conductive portion 210 of the substrate 200.

The lower contact 312 is connected to the probe 1
00 corresponds to the arrangement of the connection portions 121. That is,
Probe 1 supported by a probe support 400 described later
The connecting portion 121 of 00 is in contact with the lower contact 312.

Further, the probe support section 400 includes
One support plate, that is, an upper support plate 410, a lower support plate 420 parallel to the upper support plate 410, and a mounting member 430 for mounting the two support plates 410 and 420 to the intermediate substrate 300. Have.

The upper support plate 410 is made of, for example, machinable ceramics having a thickness of 0.5 mm (preferably Macerite (trade name) of Mitsui Mining Co., Ltd.), and is formed of an electrode pad 711 of the LSI chip 710. An opening 411 corresponding to the arrangement is provided. This opening 411
Is set to such a size that the elastic deformation portion 112 of the probe 100 can enter.

On the other hand, similarly to the upper support plate 41, the lower support plate 420 is made of machinable ceramics having a thickness of, for example, 0.5 mm (Macerite (trade name) of Mitsui Mining Co., Ltd.).
Etc. are preferred. ), And an opening 421 corresponding to the arrangement of the electrode pads 711 of the LSI chip 710 is opened. Therefore, the opening 411 of the upper support plate 410 is opened directly above the opening 421.

The two supporting plates 410 and 420 are formed by elastically deforming portions 112 based on the height of the vertical portion 110 of the probe 100.
Mounting members 43 at intervals smaller than the height of the mounting member 43
0 is attached. Also, the upper end of the mounting member 430,
The space between the upper support plate 410 and the surface of the upper support plate 410 is set slightly smaller than the sum of the height of the deformed portion 122 of the probe 100 and the height of the connection portion 121.

The probe support 40 thus constructed
At 0, the probe 100 is attached as follows. That is, the elastically deformable portion 112 of the probe 100 is inserted into the opening 411 with the fixing portion 123 of the probe 100 placed on the surface of the upper support plate 410. Then, the contact portion 111 of the probe 100 is moved to the opening 4 of the lower support plate 420.
Projecting from 21. In this state, the fixing portion 123 is fixed to the surface of the upper support plate 410 with the epoxy resin 412 or the like.

The probe support 400 on which all the probes 100 are mounted is mounted on the intermediate substrate 300.
Then, the connection portion 121 of the probe 100 is
00 contacts the lower contact 312. The dimension h (μm), which is the sum of the height of the deformed portion 122 of the probe 100 and the height of the connecting portion 121, and the connecting portion 12 of the probe 100
Table 1 shows the relationship between the contact resistance R (Ω) between the contact point 1 and the lower contact 312.

[0027]

[Table 1]

As shown in Table 1, the maximum value of the dimension h is 1822 μm, the minimum value is 1638 μm,
The difference is as large as 184 μm. Nevertheless, the contact resistance R (Ω) between the connection 121 of the probe 100 and the lower contact 312 is all 0.1Ω. Therefore, in the conventional probe card corresponding to the LSI chip 710 in which the electrode pads 711 are arranged at a narrow pitch, the tolerance of the height dimension of the connection portion 121 has to be suppressed within 5 μm. By providing the deformation portion 122 on the 121, the tolerance of the dimension h is absorbed by the deformation of the deformation portion 122, so that the state where the contact resistance is maintained at a constant value can be maintained. This means that, in other words, the manufacturing accuracy of the probe 100 can be reduced while maintaining the measurement accuracy of the electrical characteristics of the LSI chip 710 at a high level as in the related art.

Next, the measurement of various electrical characteristics of the LSI chip 710 by the probe card A configured as described above will be described. First, the LSI chips 710 are adsorbed and fixed on the support 720 in a state where a large number of LSI chips 710 are formed on the wafer 700, that is, in a state where the LSI chips 710 are not yet divided into individual LSI chips 710. By moving the support 720, the contact portion 111 of the probe 100 is moved to the electrode pad 71.
1 is brought into press contact. The contact part 111 is the electrode pad 7
Even after contacting the contact portion 11, the support base 720 is moved in a direction in which the contact portion 111 is pressed against the electrode pad 711 (referred to as “overdrive”). Electrode pad 71
The contact resistance between them is set to a predetermined value.

After a predetermined overdrive, signals are exchanged with a tester (not shown), and the LSI chip 71
The electrical properties of 0 are measured. Thus, the wafer 7
Electrical characteristics are measured for all of the plurality of LSI chips 710 formed at 00.

If such a measurement is repeated on the order of several hundred thousand times, the probe 100 which is broken or deformed and is not suitable for the measurement is generated. To replace the probe 100, the probe support 400 is removed from the intermediate substrate 300, the epoxy resin 412 fixing the probe 100 to the probe support 400 is removed, and a new probe 100 is replaced with the epoxy resin 412. This is performed by fixing to the probe support 400 as before.

Next, another probe card B using the probe 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. This probe card B differs from the probe card A described above in that the probe card B does not have the intermediate substrate 300 that was in the probe card A. That is, the lower end of the conductive portion 210 of the substrate 200 is exposed on the back surface of the substrate 200 to become the lower contact 211, and the connecting portion 121 of the probe 100 directly contacts the lower contact 211.

Comparing the probe card A with the probe card B, the probe card A can use the conductive pattern 310 of the intermediate substrate 300 by using the intermediate substrate 300, so that more conductive portions 210 can be used. Can be used, resulting in more probes 100
Has the advantage that it can respond to

On the other hand, the probe card B without the intermediate substrate 300 has a smaller number of probes 10 than the probe card A.
Although only 0 can be supported, the intermediate substrate 300 and the anisotropic conductive sheet 500 can be omitted, which has an advantage that the configuration is simplified.

In the above-described embodiment, the deformed portion 122 of the probe 100 has a substantially U-shape in a horizontal direction. However, as shown in FIG. The same effect can be exerted even if 'is used. Also, as shown in FIG.
The portion corresponding to No. 2 may be formed as an elastically deformable portion 112 ′.

[0036]

According to the probe of the present invention, the tip is
The contact area is in contact with the elephant's electrode pad.
A connection part connected to the conductive part connected to the
Deformed when a vertical force is applied to the connection at the rear end
And a contact portion and a connection portion are provided.
Not on the same perpendicular.

With this probe, it is possible to make the height position of the connecting portion of a large number of probes used for the probe card rougher than the conventional one. Specifically, if it is compatible with a conventional LSI chip having narrow-pitch electrode pads, the height position of the connection portion must be within ± 5 μm. Thus, it is sufficient to limit the range to about ± 100 μm. As a result, the manufacturing accuracy of the probe could be reduced without lowering the measurement accuracy of the electrical characteristics of the LSI chip. This is especially true for probe cards that use more probes (LS with narrower pitch electrode pads).
This is effective for a probe card corresponding to an I chip. That is, in such a device, it was necessary to increase the manufacturing accuracy of the probe, but without increasing the manufacturing accuracy further by the probe according to the present invention, the same level of measurement accuracy of the electrical characteristics was secured. Because you can do it.

Further, when the deformed portion is formed in a substantially U-shape in a horizontal direction, the direction of deformation is determined to some extent, so that contact of the adjacent probe with the deformed portion can be prevented. Therefore, even if the arrangement density of the probes is increased, there is an effect that a short circuit accident does not easily occur.

Further, even if the deformed portion is formed thinner than other portions, it is necessary to increase the manufacturing accuracy of the probe as the number of probes increases, but the manufacturing accuracy is further improved by the probe according to the present invention. Without increasing the effect, it is possible to obtain an effect that it is possible to ensure the same level of measurement accuracy of various electrical characteristics.

On the other hand, a probe card according to the present invention includes the probe, a substrate on which a conductive portion connected to a tester is formed, and a probe supporting portion provided below the substrate and supporting the probe. The deformable portion of the probe is deformed when a connecting portion comes into contact with the conductive portion.

According to this probe card, the contact resistance between the connecting portion and the conductive portion of the substrate can be maintained at a constant value without making the height positions of the connecting portions of many probes coincide with each other with high precision. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the manufacturing accuracy of the probe while maintaining the measurement accuracy of the electrical characteristics of the LSI chip at a high level as in the related art.

Further, the probe card according to the present invention is characterized in that the probe, a substrate on which a conductive portion connected to a tester is formed, a probe supporting portion provided below the substrate and supporting the probe, A relay board provided between the board and the probe, and a conductive pattern formed therein, wherein the connection portion of the probe is a lower contact exposed on the back surface of the relay board, and the conductive portion is Each of the probes is electrically connected to the upper contact exposed on the surface of the relay board, and the deformed portion of the probe is deformed when the connecting portion comes into contact with the lower contact.

With this probe card, in addition to the above-described effects, the use of the intermediate substrate allows the use of the conductive pattern of the intermediate substrate, so that more conductive portions can be used. As a result, This has the advantage that more probes can be accommodated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of a probe according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of a probe card using the probe according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of another probe card using the probe according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic front view of a probe according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 100 probe 111 contact part 121 connecting part 122 deforming part

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Akito Kurachi 2-5-113, Nishi-Nagasu-cho, Amagasaki-shi, Hyogo Japan Electronic Materials Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Jun-ichi Tabata 2-chome, Nishi-Nagasu-cho, Amagasaki-shi, Hyogo No. 5-13 JEOL Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-9-304435 (JP, A) JP-A-9-184852 (JP, A) Full-open 6-58371 (JP, U) Full-open 58-114775 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01R 1/06-1/073 G01R 31/28 H01L 21/66

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A tip is in contact with an electrode pad of an object to be measured.
Contact part, the rear end of which is connected to the conductive part connected to the tester.
The connection at the rear end of the probe that is to be connected
There is a deformation part that deforms when a vertical force is applied to the part.
That the contact part and the connection part are not on the same perpendicular.
Probe to be characterized . 2. The deforming portion is formed in a substantially U-shape in a horizontal direction.
The probe according to claim 1, wherein the probe is formed. 3. The deformed portion is formed thinner than other portions.
The probe according to claim 1, wherein the probe is provided. 4. The method according to claim 1, 2 or 3.
The probe and the conductive part connected to the tester are formed.
And a probe provided below the substrate,
And a probe support for supporting the probe.
The deformed portion of the probe is deformed when the connecting portion contacts the conductive portion.
A probe card characterized by being shaped . 5. The method as set forth in claim 1, 2 or 3.
The probe and the conductive part connected to the tester are formed.
And a probe provided below the substrate,
A probe support for supporting the substrate and the probe
Intermediate base with conductive pattern formed inside
A connection portion of the probe,
At the lower contact exposed on the back surface of the connecting board, the conductive part is
Conducts to the upper contacts exposed on the surface of the connecting board
The deformed portion of the probe has a connection portion that contacts the lower contact.
A probe card characterized by being deformed when being inserted.